Improved dredging machine



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JAMES I II. McLEAN, OF S'I. LOUIS, MISSOURI.-

\ Letters Manilva. 65,608, ma July 9, 1867.

IMPROVED DEBUG-ING MACHINE.

T0 ALL WHOM IT MAY CONGERN:

Be it known that I, JAMES IIf MCLEAN, of St. Louis, in the county of St.Louis, and State'of Missouri, have invented certain new and usefulimprovements in Dredging Machines; and Ido hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being hadto the annexed drawing, making part of this specification, in which-Figure' l is a side elevation. Figure 2 a plan or top view, showing oneside of the deck of the boat broken off; and Figure 3 is a transversesection taken onthe line A B of iig. 2, and showing also a rearelevation of the Y. machine.

A dredging machine should possess, first, a ready and secure means ofbeing moored or anchored in a given place, so that the work may becarried on at the requisite point; and, second, it should possess adredger which is certain in its operation, and which can be readilyraised and lowered to its work without injury to itself; and, third, itshould possess a ready and efficient means of `discharging itself andofconveying away the mud or sand brought up by the dredger. p

The'object of my invention is to provide a machine which more thoroughlyfulfills these conditions, and it consists of a novel and improvedmethod of making, applying, controlling, and regulating the variousparts of a dredging machine with respect to each other and to the vesselupon which they are placed.

To enable those skilled in the arts to which this invention appertainsto make and use my improvements, I will proceed to describe theconstruction and operation thereof. I l i A Similar letters-of referencerepresent corresponding parts of the machine in the different figuresshown in the drawing.

In fabricating my improved machine I take a steamboat hull of theordinary construction, and upon the decl?, I, thereof I erect a frame,T, for. the purpose of carrying the main driving-shaft Drand .theupperend of the dredging-frame C and chain e, upon which latter thebuckets or scoops 0l are fixed. The shaft D, it will be seen, isarranged in suitable bearings near the upper part of'the frame T, andserves as a support, about which the dredging-frame swings as a centre,the frame Tbeing made to project far enough over the sides of the deck Yto allow the dredging-frame to swing clear of the vessel. Thisdredging-frame, C, I make of two long, straight strips of timber, framedtogether parallel with each other, similar to the two sides of a ladder,and on the upper end of each of said pieces of timber I arrange anadjustable bearing, shown by t, which bearing I adjust by means of thescrews h k, and in the lower end of each of said sticks of timber Iarrange an :anti-friction bear ing, consisting of a bracket and tworollers, shown by V, and a strap passed over the end of the frame-piecesto hold the journals of the carryingwlleels a', which are made square tomatch the links of' the chain e, with a ilange on the out ends to keepthe chain from running of. I next arrange a pair of squaredriving-Wheels, d .a, upon said main shaft D, which wheels I also makewith a flange on their out ends, to prevent the dredging chain fromrunning off at the side, in the manner shown in the drawing. I next makethe dredging chain e e, which consists of alternate single and doublelinks riveted together, and equal in length, clear of the joints, to thelength of the squares of `said driving-wheels. Having constructed thedredge chains as aforesaid, I make the bucketsor scoops d el equal inlength to the distance between the chains, and x one upon everyalternate p' link, or fix them upon the chain as far apart ascircumstances may seein to require. These buckets, it will be observed,-are made of a peculiar form, their Vend plates being convex above theplane of the nose and cutting edge, as represented by the dotted line x,the edge of saidend plates being made thin and sharp to cut in the earthat the ends of the scoop before the excavating edge thereof strikes it.

Having completed the construction of the dredging-chains and applied thescoops thereto, I swing the end of the dredging-frame on the maindriving-shaft D bydisuniting the adjustable journa1-boxes 6, so as toadmit the shaft, arranging the two driving-wheels* between the two sidesof the dredging-frame; but before putting the shaft in saidjournal-boxes I put the dredging-chain in its place on thedriving-wheels a, a. The dredgingframe and chain being thus arranged onthe driving-shaft, I arrange the chain on the carrying anddriving-wheels, and adjust the screws h h until the chain has about thetension required, the distance between the driving and carrying shaftsbeing regulated by these screws, which thus regulate the tension of thedredging-chain, the ,p

described; and

deflection of which is taken up by a roller, f, supported in brackets J,bolted or otherwise fixed to the dredgeframe C. Thiscompletes adescription of the manner of makingthe dredgcr and of applying it tothedrivingshaft. l v V New to regulate the dip of the dredger and to raiseandA lower it to and from its work, I erect a derrick upon the deck ofthe vessel, consisting of two sticks of timber, it', united at the top,and fitted with a wheel and axle, ]c Z, from which there is arope orfall leading from a block secured at the top of the derrick and reachingdown to and connecting with the dredger by means of a link, e, whichspa-ns it from one side tothe other, as shown inthe-drawing. Afterhaving constructed and arranged the dredger and derriek as aforesaid,

I proceed to construct the receiver and discharger, which consists of abroad, endless apron, composed of' two endless-chains, g g, made ofalternate single and double links, riveted together, and stretched overchain-wheels m m, which are made to match in the outside and inside ofthe chain links, thus uniformly disposing the strain upon the chain-andwheels, and securing great certainty of action in the operation of thereceiver and discha'rger, for by this construction of chain-wheels it isimpossible for the chain to slip or run off the wheels. Having thusconstructed the chains and wheels, and arranged them in respect to eachother, as aforesaid, I unite' the said chains by means of plates f whichreach from one chain to the other, and are in width equal to the lengthof the chain-links, to which they are secured in any effectual way, sothat the edge of one laps a little over the edge of the preceding one.This receiving and discharging apron is made of considerable width, .andis arranged directly under the upper end of the dredge, or thereabouts,so that the scoops can discharge their contents in the centre thereof.And said aprons 'maybe .made of great length, so-as to deposit the mud,sand or d'irton the banks, in case the stream be narrow, or in aflat-boat, when the machine is usedin a hay or large river.

Said apronis supported in brackets bolted to the main frame T, and inwhich the ehain-wheel shafts o o have their bearing. The power tooperate said apron is conveyed thereto from the main shaft D through theagencyY of a series of cog-wheels, as shown in the drawing, and whichare of the ordinary construction, and may be arranged in any convenientmanner to bring about the desired power, direction, and velocity ofmotion. Thus much for the operative parts of the machine. i

Now, to anchor or moor the vessel securely at any given point, I cutholes through the guard-deck of the vessel vand insert therein pins, L,which are `tted with rings to raise and lower them by, and pins to keepthem up when raised out of the mud or sand, as shown by the drawing.There may, of course, be as many-of these pins through the guards as maybe necessary to securely hold the vessel in the desired position.

IIavingnow described the construction and operation of my improveddredging machine, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent- .1.The dredger, the receiving and discharging apron, and the derrick, forraising and-lowering the dredger, when these respective parts arecombined, constructed, and operated in relation to each othersubstantially as 2. I claim, in combination with the dredging vessel,the pins L, for the purpose of mooring thesame, substantially asdescribed. l

JAMES Il. MCLEAN. Witnesses:

JN0. G. TAYLOR', JAMEs JACKSON.

